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About Us

Who are We?

We are a Train Operating Company, and the lovely people at the Department for Transport have asked us to run our trains in and around the glorious East Midlands until at least March 2018. And if we're really good they might ask us to do it for another 12 months.

Our Local Line Services - we run services on our local lines through some of the most scenic countryside in the UK.

Our Main Line Service - we also whoosh loads of people everyday in and out of the big smoke on the Midland mainline which runs between Sheffied and London, cruising along at 125mph.

Whether you're travelling in Standard or First Class our fabulous Customer Experience team are committed to making sure you have a smooth journey.

If you like facts, you'll like this bit (these are also handy to take to an interview to show that you've done your homework).

Key facts about us

Annual passengers: 24 million

Train carriages: 325

Employees: 2,000

Network size: 883 miles

Stations on our network: 87 Stations

Units: 89 Trains

We are part of the Stagecoach group family and we work closely with our sister companies, South West Trains, Stagecoach and Virgin have also buddied up to run the Virgin Trains West Coast and Virgin Trains East Coast.

Our Values

We are one team

We all know what we need to do to be great at our own jobs but sometimes we need to pitch in to help others. Being One Team means that we see the bigger picture and support each other. During special events and peak times of travel you will often find all sorts of teams working on the front line to ensure that we always delight our customers no matter what.

We keep people safe

Safety is top of our list. We are all committed to making sure everyone makes it home safely to feed the cat every day.

We do the right thing

We keep our promises, are mindful of our impact on our community and our environment. Treat each other and our customers right. It means being the best version of ourselves.

We embrace diversity

We listen to everyone – We have 2185 individuals in our team, we are all different and all bring loads of experiences, views and ideas. By embracing who we are we become a better business.

We delight our customers

We’ve given you lots of reading to do – why not watch one of our TV ads to see how we delight our customers every day.

A special Mum is treated like a Queen on a trip to London for her 90th birthday:

The story of Shaun from our Sheffield Ticket Office offering help to one of our customers:

Teddy's story is one example where we have gone the extra mile to give our customers a brilliant experience:

Engineering Senior Team Member

Derby - Nottingham - Leeds

It sounds like a cliché but no one day is ever the same working in engineering. The Senior Team member role works within our maintenance team to ensure trains meet ever exacting and challenging standards that our customers expect. As a senior team member you will be servicing, maintaining, repairing, overhauling and fault finding on our trains.

Depending on your depot will depend what types of train you might be working on.

Up North in Leeds you would be working on the beloved HST. Working on the HST, now over 40 years old, always throws up plenty of engineering challenges, fault finding, locating appropriate parts and working out counter measures to ensure the fleet of our trains continue to run safely and smoothly for our passengers.

The Derby and Nottingham depots take care of our 15x fleet. Our Derby depot do most of the heavy engineering overhauls

Our depots work 364 days a year so we work a variety of shift patterns to keep our trains moving.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Turn 1

Start

1800

2100

2100

0600

0600

Finish

0600

0600

0600

1800

1800

Total Hrs

12hrs

9hrs

9hrs

12hrs

12hrs

Turn 2

Start

0700

0600

0600

0600

0600

Finish

1800

1400

1400

1400

1400

Total Hrs

11hrs

8hrs

8hrs

8hrs

8hrs

Turn 3a

Start

2100

2100

1800

1800

Finish

0600

0600

0600

0400

Total Hrs

9hrs

9hrs

12hrs

10hrs

Turn 3b

Start

2100

2100

1800

Finish

0600

0600

0600

Total Hrs

9hrs

9hrs

12hrs

Turn 4

Start

1300

1300

1300

1300

Finish

2100

2100

2100

2100

Total Hrs

8hrs

8hrs

8hrs

8hrs

The above roster would work on an 8 week cycle, with the 3rd week alternating on each cycle.

Ideally if you’re considering this role we look for people with practical experience of mechanical and electrical engineering. You will ideally be apprentice trained and have knowledge of ISO 9002 and ISO 14001. We do like people to have railway experience or knowledge of the standards but it’s not essential and we welcome applications from candidates with a background in other similar maintenance and repair environments.

Customer Service Officer

Customer Service Officers work at various stations across our network. It's a busy, lively environment, so you'll be thinking on your feet.

As a Customer Service Officer you will ensure the safe passage of our customers from platform to train, providing travel information and assisting customers wherever possible. At some stations, you'll be responsible for the safe departure of trains.

Working at a station can be as satisfying as it is demanding. Some of our stations have very little shelter and can be cold and windy places (however, we'll issue you with all the kit you need to stay nice and warm).

Peak times can be challenging and during disruption, people will be anxious to know how they are going to get to their destination, and you will have the information to put them at ease.

Senior Conductor

"Tickets Please!" A Senior Conductors' role is one of the most interesting and varied on the railway; we are responsible for the safe movement of the train and it’s passengers, it's timekeeping, checking and selling tickets, while smiling and giving great customer service.

We take safety seriously at East Midlands Trains and our team of Senior Conductors are expected to consider all elements of safety as a priority.

The shift patterns can be gruelling, you’ll need to be the type of person who can still have a smile on their face even when you have to set your alarm for a 3am start. Don’t worry it’s not every day and we work hard to make sure you have a fair roster cycle which gives you a whole mixture of shifts whilst ensuring you maintain a good work/life balance.

No day is ever the same; on some days the sun is shining and everything goes to time, people are pleasant and everything works; on other days there are delays and train failures, disgruntled passengers who will look to you to resolve their issues.

We pay a good salary and give some great training, when you join as a new starter the training is intensive. You begin with a short induction and then you’re straight into 10 weeks of training learning the rules, the routes and all about the trains you’ll be working on. Our lovely Learning & Development team are there to support you every step of the way and will take you through a mixture of classroom and hands on learning across the training period to make sure you’re ready to be great at your job.

To read more about what it's like to be a Senior Conductor on our services why not read this article.

Depot Driver

If you’re fortunate enough to be invited to the selection process you will have already got further than many others. During this selection, you will do a number of exercises designed to test several of your abilities. If you pass these tests you will be asked to come to a competency-based interview with our Driver Manager team. This will be followed by another round of tests and further interview. At this final stage you will also be asked to undertake a medical and drugs & alcohol screening. If you pass all of these you are on your way, although this is just the start.

Training starts with learning the rail industry Rule Book. The railway is governed by many rules and regulations and you must learn them. Everything you learn will have safety in mind at all times. You will need to put in 100% effort, including studying in your spare time. You really have to put in the time and effort. If you do, and you pass the weekly assessments and final examination, you will progress to the next training section.

After your initial training on a particular train, you’ll be off to your depot for some further learning. This is all about learning your depot, including how to understand the signalled moves onto the mainline, shunting of trains and how to work effectively with the Signaller, platform staff and others as required.

When you successfully become a depot driver you will be on shifts that will require you to work nights, weekends and unsociable hours. But you now have the job you wanted, with a good salary and many other benefits. Depending on your suitability and positions becoming available, you may progress to become a mainline train driver, although this could take some time. If you are not sure about your commitment or any aspect of the job, then it’s not for you.

Customer Host

As a Customer Host working on board our trains you're the face of EMT. You'll be working on our Meridian (mainline) and HST (regional) trains, providing excellent service to our customers.

We aim to make our customers' journeys more enjoyable by providing a personalised service. That's where your natural people skills come in. This may involve having a friendly chat, and sharing your local knowledge with people travelling for pleasure, or providing an efficient service for those on business. However, there are no hard and fast rules regarding what great service looks like to our customers; it's your skills we rely on to make each customer's journey pass that bit better.

A typical shift starts by 'booking on' for duties (which can be as early as 3am) and boarding the train with the rest of your crew. Remember, they've all gone through the same kind of training and have been selected for the same qualities you've got. You'll be part of a great team.

Together, under the guidance of your Train Manager, you'll prepare your train for its journey. This includes laying the tables in first class, stocking the trolley and being ready to greet our customers at the door of the train. After departure, you'll serve our customers travelling in first class refreshments throughout their journey, ranging from a cup of coffee from to a full English breakfast.

To read more about what it's like to be a Customer Host on our services why not read this article.

Apprenticeships

At East Midlands Trains we’re committed to life long learning and believe that your career development starts the moment you get a job with us.

At East Midlands Trains from September 2017 we will be introducing the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) level 3 & 5 qualifications to support the development of leaders in East Midlands Trains.

The level 3 ILM Qualification focuses on developing:-

● A range of essential management skills applied and refined in a real working environment.

In addition to the management development we currently run an apprenticeship programme aimed at people wanting to build a career in Engineering.

Our apprentices in Engineering complete a three-year apprenticeship programme and then go on to work as full-time senior team members within our depots.

The East Midlands has a long and proud heritage of railway engineering and it’s important that we keep investing in the future of the maintenance side of our business – ensuring that we have the skills in place to continue our excellent track record in vehicle safety and reliability.

Matt Taylor joined our Apprenticeship Programme in 2012 and is now working as a Senior Team Member at Etches Park, our Derby Depot, read more about that below.

When Matt Taylor arrives at East Midlands Trains' depot at Etches Park, to the east of Derby railway station, he never knows quite what sort of a day lies ahead.

The working weeks are planned, of course. But this is the railway industry, ever changing. Sometimes, things go wrong. It is the job of people like Matt to put them right, or to prevent them happening in the first place. That is why he can't wait to get to work each morning.

"Every day is a different day, and I love facing the challenges," says the 22-year-old, from Mickleover.

Matt is a senior team member at the multi-million pound train maintenance depot, after joining East Midlands Trains' apprenticeship scheme in 2012.

"I was at Murray Park Senior School and passed the equivalent of two GCSEs in engineering. Then I spent two years at the JCB Academy in Rocester. The original plan was to go from there to university, but as I progressed I realised that I wanted to be more hands-on than working in an office. I was more practical-minded.

"So I looked on the government's National Apprenticeship website, and from there applied to East Midlands Trains. It was the best thing I ever did.

"I was accepted and spent my first year at EMT's Eastcroft depot in Nottingham, familiarising myself with our trains, and then doing more complex work, such as fault-finding.

"For my second year, I moved here, to Etches Park, and started working on complete overhauls of the diesel multiple units, getting underneath them, working on bogies, gangways, valves, auto-coupling and so on. Then I worked on more fault finding, engine changes and gearbox changes, learning all the time.

"In the third and final year of my apprenticeship I was given more independence. My experienced colleagues kept an eye on me, and were there to put me right if needs be, but I was growing into the work now, gaining knowledge and confidence all the time."

In 2015, Matt, now fully qualified, became a senior team member. He works on East Midlands Trains' 15X diesel multiple units – the "Sprinters" that take us to Nottingham, Skegness and Matlock – but no two days are ever the same.

He said: "If you like, it's a bit like servicing a car. We get underneath to check that there is no damage, no loose bolts, air locks, and oil leaks. We are obviously safety critical.

"Everyone knows that, in the autumn, leaves falling on the lines can be a problem. One of our jobs is to check the wheels for 'flats', where wear and tear might affect the unit's ability to negotiate over foliage."

Units come into Etches Park for a complete overhaul every 500,000 miles – that works out at about every three and a half years – but there are always jobs to be done around that.

Matt said: "This is the railway, and there are always going to be faults. It is our job to fix them. So, although the week ahead is mapped out, there are always changes.

"That is why we book in units a little ahead of time, so that if there is a delay because something else has cropped up, then the units are still dealt with on schedule.

"I absolutely love this job. As I say, railways can be unpredictable. I get a great sense of pride in solving the problems that they throw up. Plus, we have a great team at Etches Park. Work colleagues will always help you out. I've always had great support here.

"I was saying to my father only the other day that in the four years I've been with East Midlands Trains, I've not had one bad day. There's not been once when I didn't go home at the end of it having thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never regretted making that choice to take an apprenticeship here."